Market seen range-bound around 18000 level: Morgan Stanley

Adverse global cues have been pulling Indian equities towards consolidation. In fact, according to Sridhar Sivaram, ED at Morgan Stanley Investment Managers, the market is already in consolidation phase. He sees it trading in a tight range around 18,000 levels for the next three to six month as he doesn't see improvement in the macro front till then. "Lack of reforms is a worry for the market. And, on back of that we may end the year flat."

Moreover, he sees some slowdown in consumption and infrastructure sectors. He is also underweight on the consumer discretionary space and neutral on consumer staples. On retails, he says investors have moved to commodities, especially gold and silver. "Retail volumes on the equity side have dwindled as investors are currently on the sidelines," he explained.
Being overweight on pharma and IT space, Sivaram says, "We may see value emerging in the industrials. We also see money coming into debt funds." Below is the verbatim transcript of the interview. Also watch the accompanying video. Q: The market has been range bound for the last many weeks. How much longer do you see things continuing?
A: It